“Direction Potočari”.
That message, along with the figure of Ratko Mladić, a former general of the Republika Srpska (VRS) Army, convicted of the most serious war crimes during the breakup of Yugoslavia, watched the football players of Crvena zvezda and Partizan before the start of the 180th Eternal Derby.
It was spread out on the northern stand of the “Rajko Mitić” Stadium, where the most ardent supporters of the red and whites are located, gathered in the Delije fan group, which was greeted with applause by most of the approximately 25,000 people in the stadium.
“The direction of Potočari” are the words spoken by Mladić in 1995, on the eve of the entry of members of the VRS into Srebrenica, a small town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) which at the time was a United Nations enclave, full of Bosniak refugees from all over the country.
In the next few days, more than 8,000 men and young men will be killed in Srebrenica, and their bodies hidden in mass graves, which has been labeled as genocide in several judgments of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Mladić was also convicted for Srebrenica, as well as, among other things, the siege of Sarajevo, who died on August 27 at the age of 84.
Due to the reactions to his death, fierce tensions followed throughout the region, and especially in Serbia and Republika Srpska, one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where many still consider him a hero and hold rallies in his honor.
“General, eternal glory and thanks”, it was written on the Delije (as Red Star’s fans call themselves) banner immediately after Mladić’s death, during the return match against Victoria from Plzen, as part of the qualification for the Europa League, the second strongest European competition, for which the club was punished.
Source, BBC Serbia, 06.09.2026, https://www.bbc.com/serbian/articles/cevw0jd83meo/lat